New Jersey has adopted the Common Core educational standard which lays the framework for education within our Nation. While changes are currently "in development" for NJ's Common Core Science Curriculum, here is a link to information you may find relevant:
http://www.state.nj.us/education/sca/
Additionally, the State of New Jersey plans to replace the yearly NJ ASK assessment with PARCC testing to assess Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and student readiness for college and careers. Next Generation Science Standards are anticipated to build the framework for the PARCC assessment.
Please browse this website:
http://www.nextgenscience.org/framework-k%E2%80%9312-science-education
NJCCCS Link for the 2013-2014 NJASK test: http://www.state.nj.us/education/cccs/cad/5/
NJ Core Content Standards
5.1 Science Practices: All students will understand that science is both a body of knowledge and an evidence-based, model-building enterprise that continually extends, refines, and revises knowledge. The four Science Practices strands encompass the knowledge and reasoning skills that students must acquire to be proficient in science.
5.2 Physical Science: All students will understand that physical science principles, including fundamental ideas about matter, energy, and motion, are powerful conceptual tools for making sense of phenomena in physical, living, and Earth systems science.
5.3 Life Science: All students will understand that life science principles are powerful conceptual tools for making sense of the complexity, diversity, and interconnectedness of life on Earth. Order in natural systems arises in accordance with rules that govern the physical world, and the order of natural systems can be modeled and predicted through the use of mathematics.
5.4 Earth Systems Science: All students will understand that Earth operates as a set of complex, dynamic, and interconnected systems, and is a part of the all-encompassing system of the universe.